After Congress signs off on the c. $825 billion Economic Stimulus bills, some of those billions will go towards implementing Electronic Health Records. The temptation will be to begin spending that money immediately. The trick will be in spending it on the right projects first.

The Obama Administration has no end of challenges to look forward to. One of the trickier ones involves something called "Electronic Health Records," and the standards that make them work.

Standards organizations and governments have been working on Electronic Health Records for many years. In this article I describe the complexities that make the creation of EHRs difficult, survey the current state of the EHR art, describe the public and private organizations most involved in EHR development, and recommend next steps needed to ensure that the national deployment of EHRs ...

One of the oldest and most important Electronic Health Record standards development organizations is Health Level 7 (HL7). HL7 and Chuck Jaffe, its CEO, are at the center of U.S. efforts to complete the design of EHR standards, and in this in-depth interview he describes what's working, what's not, and what needs to happen next if the Obama administration's drive ...

Last December the U.S. Federal Trade Commission petitioned the Supreme Court to hear why the FTC believes Rambus Incorporated needs to be punished. Nineteen friends of the court and I agree

Once there was a time when a doctor sat at a patient's bedside, able to provide more comfort than cure. Today, it's all about the cure, and the patient sometimes seems to be forgotten. As we commit to require Electronic Health Records for all, we need to be sure that the patient doesn't disappear forever into the digitized data

Inaugural speeches are very fine things to behold, full of high ideals and glowing promises — but then the hard work begins. Most presidents can deliver a fine speech, but only a few deliver on their promises. Here's hoping.